Tame Impala - Let it Happen

What a week it’s been for musical transformations. First we had Mumford & Sons’ not entirely Dylan-esque drunken stumble down electric avenue, and now Tame Impala have gone all ‘lectronic on Let it Happen, their first new release since 2012’s Lonerism. While this is no Elephant or Mind Mischief, it’s not, in truth, as radical departure as some of the long faces and dropped jaws in the hardcore fan-zone would have you thinking. Let’s face it, any reasonably psychedelic plying its trade in the twenty-first century is going to have some electronic element in play for that authentic feeling of messing around with moogs, and Tame Impala have never been a complete exception to that rule.

Let it Happen moves in the unmistakable manner of the Tame Impala - that rhythm, those vocals - but trades guitars overlayed with effects for something a little less fuzzy, rather like the shift MGMT engineered between Oracular Spectacular and Congratulations, but in a way that should be less jarring for fans. And even if it feels alien at first, it’s a song worth persevering with. It’s nearly eight minutes long, but don’t think you can take a shortcut by dipping in and out - you’ll only get lost in its subtly evolving circles that way. No, the only way to do this properly is to sit back, preconceptions laid to one side, for the full eight, and wait until the end to make up your mind.